(Artwork by Samskrathi Sharma)
Welcome
Welcome to the Kuang Lab home page! We are in the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University at Pittsburgh. Our lab is broadly interested in understanding how intestinal bacteria regulate mammalian metabolism and immunity. We use a mix of techniques including genomics, gnotobiotics, laser capture microscopy to determine the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms that regulate host-microbial interactions. Our long-term goal is to identify new avenues for developing therapeutics against metabolic and immunological diseases.
If you are passionate about using multidisciplinary techniques to study host-microbial interactions, join us! We are recruiting lab members at all levels. Apply here.
News and Events
2024
Dec 12, 2024: Samskrathi Sharma received the AHA Predoctoral Fellowship. Congratulations, Samskrathi!
Dec 11, 2024: Qiyi successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations!
Dec 3, 2024: Hanyang successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations!
Dec 3, 2024: Jianglin’s protocol paper about diurnal rhythms of norovirus infection was published in Immunometabolism. Congratulations!
Nov 26, 2024: Hunter’s paper about diurnal rhythms of tight junction and intestinal permeability was published in Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics. Congratulations!
Nov 8, 2024: Samskrathi received the best poster prize at the 2024 Rust Belt Microbiome Conference. Congratulations!
Nov 8, 2024: Dingjiacheng Jia and Jianglin Zhang present their work at the 2024 Rust Belt Microbiome Conference.
Oct 1, 2024: Jiacheng’s paper about microbial indole metabolites in tumor was published in Gut Microbes. Congratulations!
Sep 30, 2024: Samskrathi received the best poster prize at the 2024 Elizabeth Jones Annual Retreat. Congratulations!
Sep 27, 2024: Jianglin’s tuft cell diurnal rhythm paper was published in Science Immunology. Congratulations!
Sep 24, 2024: Hanyang received the MCS Travel Award. Congratulations, Hanyang!
Sep 1, 2024: Zheng Kuang received the Eberly Family Career Development Professorship. Thanks for the support!
Aug 23, 2024: Erin Walsh will start her first rotation in our lab. Welcome Erin!
Aug 1, 2024: Junjie is leaving for a postdoctoral associate position in Irene Kaplow’s lab and Hunter is leaving to start a PhD training at Penn. Congratulations!
July 23, 2024: Samskrathi Sharma received the Quad Fellowship. Congratulations, Samskrathi!
June 30, 2024: Zoe was admitted to New York University Dental School. Congratulations, Zoe!
June 15, 2024: Jiacheng is joining our lab as a visiting scholar. Welcome Jiacheng!
May 24, 2024: Samskrathi and Sarah published “Chemical interplay between gut microbiota and epigenetics: implications in circadian biology” in Cell Chemical Biology. Congratulations!
Mar 26, 2024: Cindy received the SURF award. Congratulations, Cindy!
Feb 29, 2024: Sarah Oladejo received the Margaret Carver Travel Award. Congratulations, Sarah!
Feb 6, 2024: Sarah Oladejo passed her Ph.D. Proposal Defense and is now ABD. Congratulations, Sarah!
Jan 8, 2024: Samskrathi Sharma passed her Ph.D. Proposal Defense and is now ABD. Congratulations, Samskrathi!
2023
Dec 11, 2023: Santhoshi will be joining our lab. Welcome, Santhoshi!
Nov 20, 2023: Tina Ryu, Hanyang Luo, Xianda Ma and Zoe Yang will be joining our lab. Welcome, Tina, Hanyang, Xianda and Zoe!
Nov 3, 2023: Samskrathi Sharma was awarded the Margaret Carver Travel Grant to present at the 6th International Conference on Microbiome Engineering at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Oct 16, 2023: Samskrathi Sharma was one of the four awardees of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Travel Grant supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Army Research Labs, and the National Science Foundation, and invited to give a talk at the 6th International Conference on Microbiome Engineering at UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Oct 9, 2023: Jianglin Zhang and Zheng Kuang will be presenting at “Mechanisms of Microbiota-Immune Interactions-Towards the Next Decade” at Snowbird, UH
Sep 23, 2023: Jianglin Zhang was awarded the Margaret Carver Travel Grant to present at “Mechanisms of Microbiota-Immune Interactions-Towards the Next Decade”
Sep 21, 2023: Zheng Kuang co-authored an Editorial article “Environmental rhythms at the host-microbe interface” in Frontiers Genetics
Aug 30, 2023: Stephanie Qu, Leila Awasthi, Qiyi Yu and Om Kathira will be joining our lab. Welcome, Stephanie, Leila, Qiyi and Om!
Aug 29, 2023: Elizabeth Ouanemalay and Rong Xu will be starting their rotations in our lab. Welcome, Elizabeth and Rong!
Aug 14, 2023: Nhat Phan will be joining our lab. Welcome, Nhat!
Aug 11, 2023: Hunter Christopher will be joining our lab as a postbac student. Welcome, Hunter!
Aug 8, 2023: Junjie Ma et al. published their work titled “A microbiota-epigenetic circuit controls systematic circadian programs in the gut epithelium” in Frontiers Systems Biology
Aug 1, 2023: Zheng Kuang was awarded the Curci Foundation Grant. We appreciate the support and hope to study tuft cells!
Jul 26, 2023: Samskrathi and Sarah volunteered to introduce “What do organs look like?” to high school students from Pittsburgh to introduce students to the wonders of biology and what it means to be a scientist in biology
Jul 25, 2023: Xueke Jin will be joining our lab. Welcome, Xueke
Jun 16, 2023: Sarah Oladejo was awarded the Margaret Carver Grant for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Congratulations, Sarah!
May 25, 2023: Sarah Oladejo will be joining our lab as a PhD student! She will be studying mechanisms of host immune and gut microbiota crosstalk! Welcome, Sarah!
May 1, 2023: Harihara Prakash will be joining our lab. Welcome, Harihara!
Apr 25, 2023: Iris Reed will be joining our lab. She was also awarded the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) 2023. Congratulations and welcome, Iris!
Feb 12, 2023: Samskrathi Sharma will be joining our lab as a PhD student. She will be studying sex-specific histone methylation rhythms and its relationship with the gut microbiota
2022
Dec 1, 2022: Neha will be joining our lab. Welcome, Neha!
Nov 23, 2022: Boyang and Bhavana will be joining our lab. Welcome, Boyang and Bhavana!
Nov 14, 2022: Jacob Werner will start his rotations in our lab. Welcome, Jacob!
Nov 8, 2022: The Kuang lab moves to a newly renovated space at MI 647. Congratulations to everyone!
Nov 3, 2022: Drs. Zheng Kuang, Jianglin Zhang and Junjie Ma are presenting at the 2022 Pittsburgh Rust Belt Microbiome Conference, Pittsburgh, PA. Link.
Oct 22, 2022: Drs. Junjie Ma and Zheng Kuang volunteered for the YWCA STEM Stars Outreach event and introduced the microbial world and research in our lab to the middle-school students.
Oct 11, 2022: Dr. Jianglin Zhang received a Margaret Carver Travel Award. Congratulations!
Oct 05, 2022: Dr. Zheng Kuang received an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to study how cells and bacteria found in the intestine work together to regulate metabolism and immunity and the impact this interplay has on digestive diseases. We appreciate the support!
Sep 23, 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jianglin Zhang on the best poster prize for the 2022 Elizabeth Jones Annual Retreat!
Sep 15, 2022: Yiran Duan received the Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar! Congratulations!
Aug 24, 2022: Sarah Oladejo and Samskrathi Sharma will start their rotations in our lab. Welcome, Sarah and Samskrathi!
Jun 20, 2022: Dr. Zheng Kuang is co-editing a special research topic on Environmental Rhythms at the Host-Microbe Interface for Frontiers in Genetics. Please feel free to reach out if you are interested! Link
Jun 14, 2022: Dr. Zheng Kuang is presenting at ENDO 2022 on Microbiota and circadian rhythms of lipid metabolism.
Apr 13, 2022: Dr. Zheng Kuang is presenting at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Medicine and the Microbiome on microbial regulation of mammalian circadian rhythms, metabolism and immunity.
Mar 10, 2022: Giselle Arellano receives a NASA Summer Internship through the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. Congratulations!
Feb 22, 2022: Xiantong Xin will start his rotation in our lab. Welcome, Xiantong!
Feb 1, 2022: Tafannum Hossin will be joining our lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome, Tafannum!
2021
Dec 15, 2021: Dr. Zheng Kuang received a $150,000 New Investigator Award from The Charles E. Kaufman Foundation to explore the mechanics of why metabolism is different in males and females. We appreciate the support!
Dec 6, 2021: Yiran Duan will be joining our lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome, Yiran!
Nov 8, 2021: Shu-ting Cho and Jason Nguyen will start their rotations in our lab. Welcome, Shu-ting and Jason!
Oct 21, 2021: Giselle Arellano will be joining our lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome, Giselle!
Oct 19, 2021: Dr, Junjie Ma will be joining our lab as a research associate. Welcome, Junjie!
Oct 1, 2021: Dr. Zheng Kuang is presenting at the Pittsburgh Area Microbial Pathogenesis.
July 19, 2021: Dr. Jianglin Zhang will be joining our lab as a postdoc researcher. Welcome, Jianglin!
July 1, 2021: Our lab is officially open!
2020
October 29, 2020: We are hiring! Please check our Join Page for the details.
October 28, 2020: Our lab website is online!